IS CACH A THREAT TO CONSERVATION? – You decide! Three large NGO’s dominate the SA conservation landscape. WWF, EWT, and WESSA (Wildlife and Environmental Society of SA.) All three are pro-hunting, and support the hunting industry. All three do some useful conservation work – but never in any area that will impact adversely on hunting. My blogpost giving the links to our CACH educational videos was referred by WESSA to their ‘technical expert,’ who wrote a withering criticism, as follows (in italics) (I post my answers below in black.)a) “The 2007 video is heavily biased, unfactual, slanderous and emotionally charged. I caution the use of this 2007 video for any kind of educational purposes. (In fact this is exactly the kind of thing that damages the cause of conservation and the reputations of conservation organisations and conservationists!)”

You can watch the 2007 video – only 11 minutes - here and make up your own mind:http://youtu.be/rtuXPVsh_zQ b) “Most importantly this video equates all hunting to canned hunting and there is a massive difference between the two.I am of course 100% against canned hunting!” 1. Check out this 5-min video of typical wild animal hunts and see if you agree that there is a ‘massive difference’ between this and canned hunting:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcuDILOo6x4 2. I wonder if this technical expert realizes what she is saying when she is “100% against hunting tame lions” - but approves of hunting wild lions. Canned hunting is both cruel and abusive but it does not directly affect pride dynamics. We all know by now how damaging trophy hunting is to wild lion prides; how the loss of the pride male leads to chaos, infanticide and supremacy battles. Research by Panthera and others shows that it can take as long as 7 years for the lion pride to recover, and that as many as 20 lions and cubs can die in the upheaval. And this is defended as good conservation by this WESSA ‘technical expert?’ c) "WWF would not openly be supporting the sustainable use of wildlife for the hunting industry as a method for conservation if it did not work." Hmnn…let’s analyse this extraordinary sweeping statement. I think the ‘technical expert’ is saying that: 1. Hunting is good conservation, the implication being that hunters will protect their hunting concessions from poachers. 2. If hunting was not good conservation, it would not be supported by WWF. Taking the first point, let’s look at the catastrophic decline in elephant numbers in Selous Game Reserve, where most of the reserve is under hunting concession. More than two thirds of the second largest elephant population on the planet have been poached in the last four years. And what have the brave hunters done to protect their concessions? Why, instead of turning their guns on the poachers, the brave hunters continue to shoot at the shattered remnants of the declining herds. But don’t believe the inconvenient numbers – just trust the WWF that hunting is good. Look at the crooked reasoning employed in her second point: that if WWF approves of hunting it can't be bad. How unscientific! So now conservation is a matter of faith. Just ignore all the facts, the horrendous cruelty, the rapid plunge towards extinction of African wildlife, and just kneel with her at the altar of the WWF, to worship. Does she not know that WWF is primarily a hunting organisation? That it was established by wealthy hunters in order to preserve hunting privileges on a continent which was undergoing de-colonisation? That it will say anything to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional right to participate in wildlife conservation? (See WWF - Scaremongers in Conservation in the blog post below.)

See more generally:http://www.wickedwildlifefund.com/abuse.html Who is the greater threat to real conservation, CACH or WWF and its acolytes like this ‘technical expert’? d) “I did not see the updated version of the canned hunting video …however, it would have to have undergone a massive mind shift in its presentation to have become factual, truly thought provoking and educationally valuable.” Check out the updated 2014 version – only 7 minutes - and decide for yourself if our short video is damaging to conservation or whether you think it is ‘factual, thought-provoking and educationally valuable.’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2evbxUVX84I&feature=youtu.be Conclusion. No wonder SA conservation is such an ugly mess, when anyone who questions the value or acceptability of hunting is treated with arrogant condescension by self-important ‘technical experts.’ No wonder SA conservation services have become a protection racket for the hunting industry. No wonder conservation policies and models are all wrong. The root of this problem lies with corporate South Africa. Corporate donations lead the way in conservation. Most corporate sponsorship and funding in SA goes to the big three pro-hunting NGO’s, WWF, EWT and WESSA. Until corporate South Africa stops funding the wrong NGO’s, we shall continue to lose our wildlife to wrong conservation policies. Chris Mercer. May 2014.

Thanks for your insight and comments, Chris. WWF and other 'conservation organisations' that endorse and promote hunting are a disgraceful relic from a time long past, a time when slavery, racism and sexism were the order of the day. These organisations should be left where they belong - in the corridors of outdated history, and CACH and the real conservation organisations - the ones that actually think that killing animals is a bad idea - should replace them.

This is absolutely ridiculous!
CACH just states the truth of what happens on CANNED HUNTING! No further comments needed.
I stand by/with you all the way!

Reply

Chris

5/19/2014 12:12:15 am

Thanks Elisa and Irene.

Reply

Roy

5/19/2014 12:34:05 am

You are wrong about the EWT and I am sure you know you are.I am waiting for a response from the other organisations and will not be surprised if they also claim you are spreading misinformation

Reply

Chris

5/19/2014 02:05:57 am

How condescending Roy. How dare you arrogantly assume that I know I have published misinformation. Read Bradley's post below. I have been doing this for fifteen years and I have plenty of evidence to support me, starting with the disgraceful misinformation WWF, EWT and WESSA spread in the Tuli elephant case.
Please give me a reason to publish it all.

Reply

Brad Bergh

5/19/2014 12:38:09 am

Dear WWF

It has just come to my attention that your organisation supports “sport” hunting as a viable means of wildlife conservation.

I recently read one of your quotes:
"WWF would not openly be supporting the sustainable use of wildlife for the hunting industry as a method for conservation if it did not work."

I regret that I cannot agree with this. I am not saying this as a knee jerk, emotional reaction. I have been keeping an eye on the hunting industry for some years now and I’m afraid there is no way I can continue to support an organisation the supports hunting for any reason other than ‘survival’. I also don’t believe WWF can know for certain whether it is “a method of conservation that works”.

I would like to know why I should continue to support your organisation in light of what I have just learnt. Please don’t give me the usual tired justification of how hunters “protect” wildlife against poachers or that hunting brings in “foreign revenue” and “creates sustainable jobs”.

In the first place, in the scores of barbaric video material I have viewed of international “professional sport hunters”, I have yet to observe one hunter that shows any inkling of bravery. They are always surrounded by other “professional sport hunters” who are also armed with heavy calibre, high powered rifles ‘just in case’ things don’t quite go according to plan. A hunter who hunts with a spear or a knife could be called brave but can we really call the (generally) overweight, privileged business people who feature in these hunting videos (and have to be driven to within striking distance of their prey because they are so unfit) courageous? Please explain how hunters are contributing to the preservation of wildlife and biodiversity or helping to reduce the poaching in this country.

Then there is the argument of job creation and foreign revenue. The usual neo-liberal economic model that involves the enrichment of an elite few, coupled to minimum wages for everyone else. The amount of foreign revenue that flows into South Africa is vague and unsubstantiated and I would really like to hear a factual explanation (rather than the speculative/aspirational version provided by the Department of Environmental Affairs) as to how this income really contributes to building an equitable, humane and sustainable economy. Most of the wealth in this country is in the hands of a minority and continues to be so as the wealth inequality gap grows ever wider. If WWF is really impartial about this they should do a proper, holistic investigation which examines all the complex factors involved. The hunting industry is merely perpetuating the same business model that many other industries practice in this country which are neither interested in human or animal rights nor the preservation of the environment.

Please don’t respond to this with a whole bunch of academic mumbo-jumbo. I am myself busy with a Master’s in Sustainable Development and am experiencing, first-hand, the enormous limitations of academic study in solving complex problems. I would like to incorporate some of this in my thesis next year but I doubt I will get very far because the little contact I have had with the hunting industry always seems to illicit the same response that resonates with gun ownership lobbyists in the USA – “if you want me to give up my firearm, you will need to pry it from my dead fingers”! I am pretty sure many at WWF know what I am talking about as I have seen how some of the hunting industry players speak and behave.

Perhaps WWF is trying to “constructively engage” with the hunting industry but I do not believe “asking them nicely” is going to change the way they operate. The industry is also inadequately policed as illustrated by the widespread use of canned hunting that is currently taking place in this country. No one really knows what happens out there on those hunts unless the hunter decides to post his video on the internet to brag about it. Bow hunting is banned in South Africa but look at all the examples of bow kills below. I have the same argument of the SASSI grading system of sustainable fish – the fishing methods may be a bit more “sustainable” but unless the person responsible for the grading is on those boats they have no idea how those fish are really caught and how many other sea animals are killed with clubs and shotguns by fisherman “protecting” their catches. Getting all the role players in the industry to “fill in forms” is no guarantee whatsoever that this is how they operate.

I’m unable to see how we can call ourselves a civilized nation while we continue to condone this. This is not the way advanced societies behave. On the one hand we rant and rave about the number of Rhinos poached e

Reply

Brad Bergh

5/19/2014 12:55:37 am

I’m unable to see how we can call ourselves a civilized nation while we continue to condone this. This is not the way advanced societies behave. On the one hand we rant and rave about the number of Rhinos poached each year and on the other hand we allow sport hunters to kill them for pleasure. The only difference I can see between the two is where the money flows to. I understand WWF has large corporate sponsors and your organisation has to be careful not to offend them but we have to find a way to break the stranglehold corporations have on this country and the world. The first step is to break the financial ties that lead to a conflict of interests.

I have seen how badly many of the animals are killed. The entire system is so complex I am not convinced any study can ascertain the full impact of allowing this to carry on. We continue to allow certain industries to operate in this country (no matter how environmentally destructive those operations may be) because we want to preserve the jobs. What use will jobs be to us once our ecosystem is irreversibly degraded???

I don’t believe anyone working in your organisation truly agrees with sport hunting. In your hearts you know killing for pleasure is barbaric and cannot be justified either economically, morally or for conservation. I cannot help wondering if you have taken this position to keep a large corporate donor happy and I sympathise with your predicament if that is the case. It takes courage to stand up for what you truly believe in. This is not a choice that involves a colour or taste preference which are merely matters of opinion. An evolved society simply doesn’t allow its members to choose whether or not they can exploit other living creatures for pleasure or entertainment.

WWF should not make it easy for hunters to indulge their addiction to the adrenalin rush of killing! If we want to create just, equitable and humane societies it has to start with the way we treat animals. If we don’t, I cannot see how we can ever expect to achieve it among ourselves. Just because something is “legal” doesn’t make it ethical. There are more examples of this than I care to mention – including here in South Africa.

Yours faithfully

Bradley Bergh

“We hunt because we love these animals” – says one hunter. Please explain this to me!

Enjoy the following tour of conservation killing – real family men these guys …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CQcqqp8_EQ (“Can’t wait to see what a giraffe looks like piled up!”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFRXSHTtZg (Lots of back slapping as if it is a major achievement shooting a massive, stationary bull giraffe!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdEz66CTgKw (killing a bull to protect the female giraffes!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsx8_VfhIvk

Lion bow hunting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tExAqeGXRZU (killing of lioness in her enclosure from the safety of a vehicle – he has to wait until she is standing side on and standing still – listen to her calling as she dies)

Rhino hunting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9Sy3kvWkk (you can see how brave this hunter is as he kills a rhino)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLjRzZI3Y2w (real conservationist who wants to kill all of the big 5!)

Good post Brad; don't dismiss academic research too quickly - Economists at Large have published an in-depth look at the viability of trophy hunting and they have trashed the claims that hunting aids conservation. See: http://www.ecolarge.com/work/the-200-million-question-how-much-does-trophy-hunting-really-contribute-to-african-communities/

Reply

Elisa

5/22/2014 12:34:25 am

Good post Brad; don't dismiss academic research too quickly - Economists at Large have published an in-depth look at the viability of trophy hunting and they have trashed the claims that hunting aids conservation. See: http://www.ecolarge.com/work/the-200-million-question-how-much-does-trophy-hunting-really-contribute-to-african-communities/ The claim that hunting aids poor communities and conservation is a lie based on nothing but greed.

Thanks for sharing this info. I am so angry. I have supported &a praised WFF for years, not now

Reply

Heta Rousi

11/22/2017 01:13:48 am

Thank you Brad Bergh for your statement.

Reply

Cheryl Phillips

5/19/2014 07:03:11 am

It's time we started petitions asking both Nedbank and MySchool to stop supporting the WWF. I'm not very technologically savvy. I do know how to share the petitions. Please can someone start one?

Reply

Elisa

5/22/2014 12:31:49 am

Excellent idea Cheryl!! I am fully behind you on this. I have a contact at Woolworths and am happy to follow up on the MySchool card with you regarding WWF and other organisations that support hunting. Chris has my email address - contact him privately and ask for my email and let's talk about this!

Reply

Valerie Rawlinson

7/5/2015 08:51:54 pm

Only just seen your post Cheryl but would like to be involved. Also not technologically savvy! Brad's letter to WWF has moved me to tears and how could anyone watch those UTube videos - they have to be psychologically disturbed!

Reply

Nikki Elliott

5/19/2014 02:43:15 pm

Chris, I am more than happy for CACH to be a threat to the pseudo conservation these orgs subscribe to! Hunting by the rich for fun, and poaching (also ultimately for the rich who runs these all but mafia mobs), are one and the same, except the powers that be and the orgs mentioned above choose to make a distinction in some instances (in others they are involved in poaching as well) because of the wads of cash that fill their pockets! Expose, expose, expose I say. Nothing hurts more than the truth, and we will spread the truth as far and wide as possible!

Reply

Heta Rousi

5/28/2014 03:41:15 pm

Thank you Chris! I will also stand by you all the way until the end about this! Good luck! :)